Thinking through Bodies: Bodied Encounters and the Process of Meaning Making in an E-Mail Generated Art Project

Abstract

In the West we are accustomed to thinking of knowledge largely on the basis of vision, which is distant and objective, a perspective that posits the separation of mind and body. In contrast, theories of touch pose a proximinal understanding of knowledge production. It informs how we experience body knowledge as encounters between beings. Body knowledge through touch includes sensory knowing and bodied encounters. In this article, I examine the ways in which students encounter emotional knowledge through an e-mail exchange. The article will attend to theoretical considerations of touch, posing the question: How is touch encountered through digital environments? The focus is on discerning the nature of student understandings of body knowledge that un/ravel in an e-mail generated art project.